Sermon Archive
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July 2022
Joseph’s Coats
In this message we are going to be spending time with a dreamer named Joseph. We find his story at the end of the book of Genesis (Chapters 37-50). In the Bible clothing is a marker of identity for all classes of people. A king is recognized by his robes of office, just as a priest is set aside from other people by his distinctive attire. Mourners customarily wore sackcloth to display their grief, whereas prisoners of war were stripped naked, showing they had lost all personal identity. In …
June 2022
Armor of God
As we continue our study of scripture passages that highlight articles of clothing, we are going to take up the topic of spiritual warfare as we unpack Ephesians 6:10-18 together. This portion of scripture, commonly known as the Armor-of-God passage, describes number of different items that God calls us to put on. We are going to talk about a terrifying and unscrupulous enemy that attacks us and our homes and our churches from the unseen realm, and of course, we will also talk about our gre…
The Father’s Business
What comes to mind when you think about Father’s Day? Is it power tools and BBQs? New ties and #1 Dad Shirts? My family recently vacationed in Florida and spent a few days at Universal Studios. Just about every souvenir shop we entered had displays of fake Oscar awards. These awards display a man, standing tall, fit and chiseled and each one of these particular fakes was emblazoned with different monikers like, “Best Teacher”, “Best Grandparent”, and “#1 Dad”. Inevitably as we walked by eac…
Sack Cloth
Last message launched us into a new series that looks at the story of God’s plan to redeem fallen humanity by examining a number of scripture passages that focus on articles of clothing. We began with that first infamous instance of clothing ever mentioned in the Bible, fig leaves.
One of the types of clothing that is most often mentioned in the Bible is sackcloth. Sackcloth was typically made of dark goat hair. It was scratchy and very uncomfortable to wear. In the ancient world s…
Fig Leaves
Clothing holds a surprisingly prominent place in the story of God’s plan to redeem fallen humanity. The act of getting dressed is a daily ritual that I think very little about. I certainly do not often reflect on the spiritual significance of clothes wearing. At the first, Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed in their garden home, but then they ate the forbidden fruit, and the very first symptom of the fall that reared its ugly head was their sudden awareness of being naked. This awoke…
May 2022
What Will Tomorrow Bring
Towards the end of each year a group of my friends and I make predictions for the coming year. I recently looked over our predictions from last December and I was struck by the fact that neither I nor any of my friends predicted Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, or Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. Nothing was said about Elon Musk attempting to buy Twitter, or a leaked draft decision from the supreme court pointing toward a possible overturn of Roe vs. Wade. None of us foresaw the ba…
Faith and Works
There is a sense as you read the Gospels that Jesus saw a lot of things that others did not. He saw hidden motives. He saw hidden needs. He saw hidden sin and hidden potential. He saw a hidden future and the hidden stratagems of the enemy as they tried vainly to change the future God had foreordained. Much of Jesus’ interactions with humanity as captured in the Gospels portray a clear-eyed Jesus addressing souls that were utterly blinded to the spiritual realities that surrounded them. An…
What Do You See
There is a sense as you read the Gospels that Jesus saw a lot of things that others did not. He saw hidden motives. He saw hidden needs. He saw hidden sin and hidden potential. He saw a hidden future and the hidden stratagems of the enemy as they tried vainly to change the future God had foreordained. Much of Jesus’ interactions with humanity as captured in the Gospels portray a clear-eyed Jesus addressing souls that were utterly blinded to the spiritual realities that surrounded them. An…
As A Son
It was pointed out to me recently that most Mother’s Day remarks issued from Christian pulpits down through the years have been given, somewhat ironically, by men. To which I responded, “That is definitely true, but this Sunday I don’t plan to speak about motherhood as a man but rather as a son.” And, speaking as a son, mothers are, in my experience, one of the great consolations in life. What I mean by that is that life is undoubtedly terrible sometimes, but my mom is now and alway…
Not in Vain
In the Revolutionary War a young teacher and spy for the Continental Army, named Nathan Hale, was caught by the British for spying and he was subsequently hung. His last words were “My only regret is that I have but one life to give for my country.” I remember reading that in a history book when I was a boy and being very impressed by his courage and commitment. I also remember thinking what a waste it would have been for him to die like that if, in the end, the war had been lost. I’m…
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